KABUL, Afghanistan
-- Afghanistan released 65 accused
militants from a former U.S. prison on Thursday despite protests from the
American military, which says the men are Taliban fighters who will likely
return to the battlefield to kill coalition and Afghan forces.

Karzai said on Thursday the
release of detainees was "of no concern" to the United States,
threatening to inflame already strained ties.

"It is of no concern to the U.S.,
and I hope the U.S. will stop harassing Afghanistan's procedures and judicial
authority," Karzai said at a press
conference in the Turkish capital Ankara, after a meeting with President
Abdullah Gul and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The decision had prompted angry
denunciations from Washington and strained relations between the two countries
ahead of the year-end withdrawal of most international combat troops. U.S.
forces in Afghanistan say the men
have the blood of international and Afghan soldiers on their hands.

The prisoners were freed just after 9 a.m.
from the Parwan Detention Facility near Bagram Air Field, about 28 miles north
of Kabul, prison chief Gen.
Faroq Barekzai told CBS News.

Maj. Nimatullah Khaki, a prison
spokesperson, says they boarded a bus to leave the facility, laughing and
smiling.

In a statement Thursday, the U.S. Embassy in
Kabul called the release "deeply regrettable."

"Releasing these
individuals is contrary to Afghanistan’s commitment in our 2012 Memorandum of
Understanding to take all necessary steps to ensure that detainees do not pose
a continuing threat to Afghanistan, the international community or the United
States," the statement said. "The
Afghan government bears responsibility for the results of its decision.
We urge it to make every effort to ensure that those released do
not commit new acts of violence and terror, and to immediately bring to justice
any who do so."

The U.S. military in Afghanistan released a separate statement, saying the "release of these dangerous individuals poses a threat to U.S., Coalition and Afghan National Security Forces, as well as the Afghan population."

"Insurgents in the group released today have killed Coalition and Afghan Forces. They have killed Afghan men, women and children," read the statement. "More than two dozen of
the individuals released were linked to the production or emplacement
of improvised explosive devices, the number one killer of Afghan
civilians."

Graham: Karzai “singlehandedly destroying” U.S. relationship with AfghanistanThe detainees' release has been in the works
for weeks, and comes as Karzai's government has taken an increasingly hostile tone toward the U.S. ahead of the withdrawal of NATO combat troops at the end
of 2014.

The U.S. has argued for the detainees to
face trial in Afghan courts - citing strong evidence against them, from DNA
linking them to roadside bombs to explosive residue on their clothing - but
Kabul has cited insufficient proof to hold them.

Karzai has referred to the Parwan
prison as a "Taliban-producing factory" where innocent Afghans are
tortured into hating their country.

Among those who were expected to walk free
Thursday morning were Mohammad Wali, who the U.S. military says is a suspected
Taliban explosives expert who allegedly placed roadside bombs targeting Afghan
and international forces. The military said Wali had been biometrically linked
to two roadside explosions and had a latent fingerprint match on another
improvised explosive device, as well as testing positive for explosives residue.

Others in the group include Nek Mohammad -
who the U.S. says was captured with extensive weapons, and a man identified as
Ehsanullah, who is claimed to have been biometrically matched to a roadside
bomb and who tested positive for explosives residue.

The U.S. military had formally disputed the
prisoners' release, but an Afghan review board had effectively overruled those
challenges.